Reinstating the Ottomans: Alternative Balkan Modernities, 1800-1912

273 Pages·2011·6.34 MB·English

by  Isa Blumi

Reinstating the Ottomans
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Previous Publications
Chaos in Yemen: Societal Collapse and the New Authoritarianism, 2010
Political Islam among the Albanians: Are the Taliban Coming to the
Balkans?, 2005
Rethinking the Late Ottoman Empire: A Comparative Social and Political
History of Albania and Yemen, 1878–1918, 2003
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Reinstating the Ottomans
Alternative Balkan
Modernities, 1800–1912
Isa Blumi
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REINSTATING THE OTTOMANS
Copyright © Isa Blumi, 2011.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2011 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978 –0–2 30– 11018 –2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blumi, Isa, 1969–
Reinstating the Ottomans : alternative Balkan modernities,
1800–1912 / by Isa Blumi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–230–11018–2 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Balkan Peninsula—Politics and government. 2. Balkan Peninsula—
Social conditions. 3. Balkan Peninsula—Ethnic relations. 4. Balkan
Peninsula—Historiography. 5. Social change—Balkan Peninsula—
History. 6. Nationalism—Balkan Peninsula—History.
7. Imperialism—Social aspects—Balkan Peninsula—History.
8. Turkey—History—Ottoman Empire, 1288–1918. 9. Regionalism—
Balkan Peninsula—History. 10. Educational change—Balkan Peninsula—
History. I. Title.
DR38.2.B55 2011
949.6(cid:1)038—dc22 2011000523
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: May 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
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To the persecuted burra who resisted modernist tyranny,
be it with their pens—Zef Pllumi, Arshi Pipa, Gjergj Fishta—or,
when needed, their pistols—Prenk Cali, Gjok Loka, Lek Daka
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Contents
List of Illustrations xi
List of Abbreviations xiii
Preface and Acknowledgments xv
Introduction: The Search for a Narrative of Transition 1
Rewriting the Late Ottoman Context 5
Methodological Challenges 6
The Order of the Book 9
Repositioning the Ottoman Experience in
Modern History 12
Disaggregating the Ottoman World 16
Differentiating Subjects: Regionalisms and the Fis 20
1 Retrieving Historical Processes: Transitions
to a Modern Story 31
Breaking Out from under the State 33
Paradigmatic Barriers 35
Upsetting the Medieval Cradle and
Ottoman Settings 38
Revisiting the Ayan and the Politics of
Local Alliances 45
“Europe” Encroaches on Epirus 48
Alternative Trajectories since the 1820s 51
Provisional Modernity: The Ottoman Context 54
Disaggregating Balkan Polarities 57
Conclusion 60
2 Repositioning Agency and the Forces of Change 63
The Sociocultural Context of the Reformer 65
Localizing Reform 67
Reforming the Margins, Renaming the Agenda 70
Reforming Home for the Empire 78
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viii Contents
Provisional Origins of Pashko Vasa’s Shqyptarija 80
Sami: The Patriarch of Tosk Cultural and
Regional Elitism 86
Conclusion 92
3 The Compromised Empire: Ethnicity and Faith
under State Power 95
The Ottoman World Teeters on Destruction 95
Opportunities out of Disaster 99
The Sultan Reaches Out: Mehmed Ali
Pasha’s Mission 102
Toskë Responding to the Post-K osova Crisis 105
Abdyl’s Mission to Kosova 105
Loyal Sami’s Ottoman Vigil 107
Bektashism and Tosk Exceptionalism 110
Activism from Abroad 117
Ismail Qemali Bey 118
Conclusion 123
4 Exchange and Governance: Boundaries and
the Struggle to Define/Confine People 125
A Modern World Repeatedly Refined 126
The Kingdom of Serbia’s Expansion into Niš 128
Montenegro and Malësi 132
The Malësorë 135
Building the Montenegro State 139
A Post- Ottoman Icon: Isa Boletini and
Redefining the Balkans 143
The 1908 Paradox 146
Conclusion 148
5 Learning the Wrong Lesson: Local Challenges to
Educational Reform 151
A History of Education Reform in
the Ottoman Empire 153
Native-born Reformer 155
The Italian/Austro-Hungarian Rivalry 157
Resisting Church and State: Co-opting “Education” 160
Infiltrating the Imperial School 164
The Indigenous School 168
The 1908 Revolt and New Opportunities
for Education 172
Conclusion 174
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Contents ix
Conclusion 175
Recapping the Story 177
Notes 191
Bibliography 221
Index 243
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